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[2023] The Curse at Alton Manor

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Rides theoretical throughput is 1920pph (according to wiki)
that is 32ppm

Meaning if a preshow was to take 3 mins including filling and emptying (so 2 mins show?) it would need a capacity of 96 people to not effect throughput.
Being that Hex's capacity is 78 people and seeing how large an area they fill in the cinema room I really don't think its possible in the existing space.

Or to use the Haunted Mansion setup in the above posts; 2 separate rooms holding 48 people each, again space is the issue
 
Going back to the original point that there are now 3 paths leading to the front of the house; it's a good place for a merge point. You can have a single staff member acting as the door man / estate agent controlling the lines. The canopy gives them cover in the rain and its also in a focal enough location that anyone with questions about the ride (such as if its appropriate for their kids) can easily find them. And with only one line In the building it opens up space for better effects in the indoor queue (similar to Batavia that also makes everyone queue the indoor section as it's part of the experience).
 
Benzin said:
Problem there is that those rides are designed via 2 pre-shows to keep the guests coming in.

Even then they have the odd gap.

Short of them not caring about throughput over experience. Which wouldn't be the first time.
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However the Haunted Mansion attractions have 10X more people going though them than the Haunted House so I don't think having one would be a problem at Alton. It just needs to be managed correctly. Similarly to Wicker Man, it's fine if managed correctly.
 
Duel never really had a queue, even on busy days. Of course this is a new attraction so initially it is going to be more popular, but it is not the end of the world going forward if the throughput is reduced slightly by a pre-show.

Under 2 weeks now until we find out!
 
Benjsh said:
It doesn't need a pre show and never did. Make the queue creepy and atmospheric and that's all that's required.
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Pre-shows are overrated anyway, they don't really add anything to the experience for me. Through my own experience, they only work in walkthrough attractions like madhouses.

Anyway, regarding The host at the front, will the queue still be moving constantly like before or not since the fastrack access was added?
 
Trooper Looper said:
Pre-shows are overrated anyway, they don't really add anything to the experience for me. Through my own experience, they only work in walkthrough attractions like madhouses.
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Whereas I think they can add a lot and significantly improve the theme and immersion, plot and backstory of attractions. Look at Test Track 1.0 and Dinosaur as two great examples where knowing the backstory is needed.
Given how adament you are normally about things that break theme and immersion it is surprising you are that against this.
Trooper Looper said:
Anyway, regarding The host at the front, will the queue still be moving constantly like before or not since the fastrack access was added?
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Depends how many people buy Fastrack and how many RAP users are returning. Lots of FT/RAP and the main queue will move slower.
 
siralgenon said:
However the Haunted Mansion attractions have 10X more people going though them than the Haunted House so I don't think having one would be a problem at Alton. It just needs to be managed correctly. Similarly to Wicker Man, it's fine if managed correctly.
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That's a big if though. Wickerman's mostly struggles with overcrowding and not enough relief space in the station. But sometimes there's no one in the station so it's poorly designed really.

Trooper Looper said:
Anyway, regarding The host at the front, will the queue still be moving constantly like before or not since the fastrack access was added?
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Fastrack automatically means it'll be slower. Especially as the new hot ride of 2023. RAP depends on how they run it.

Batching in general means the queue will not continue to move constantly.
 
Trooper Looper said:
Pre-shows are overrated anyway, they don't really add anything to the experience for me. Through my own experience, they only work in walkthrough attractions like madhouses.

Anyway, regarding The host at the front, will the queue still be moving constantly like before or not since the fastrack access was added?
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Depends entirely on the attraction. They work really well on most Disney and Universal major dark rides and some coasters too.
 
Trooper Looper said:
Pre-shows are overrated anyway, they don't really add anything to the experience for me.
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Whether a 'stop & watch' type preshow adds something to an attraction, or how they work operationally, is really on a case by case basis.
Yes they have sometimes been overused without adding much, yes sometimes they haven't been designed well operationally (Wicker Man), but those are particular cases of flawed design.

You really can't paint ALL preshows by bad cases. You can just hope in this case they have created something that works better.. which for all we know could be a good preshow, no preshow, or a walkthrough like before
 
Benjsh said:
Depends entirely on the attraction. They work really well on most Disney and Universal major dark rides and some coasters too.
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Ha, the funny thing is that even those preshows don't keep me interested enough to listen to them outside of the Haunted Mansions. I like that one since the effects in it are really good.

Anyway, with the supposed 2x3 seating arrangement back, do you think adding fastrack to the ride will affect queueing negatively, since even when it carried less people as Duel, the queue from the old turret to the loading station would only last 10 minutes, from my own experience anyway.

Do you ever think the the rides fastrack will even be popular in the long run since of the supposed higher throughput?
 
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On a side note, I think it’s quite remarkable that for a project being built in 2023, we still know pretty much nothing about the specifics of what’s inside this attraction apart from what the park has officially told us.

Alton Towers have kept this under wraps to quite an impressive degree!
 
Matt N said:
On a side note, I think it’s quite remarkable that for a project being built in 2023, we still know pretty much nothing about the specifics of what’s inside this attraction apart from what the park has officially told us.

Alton Towers have kept this under wraps to quite an impressive degree!
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Indoor rides are often kept under wraps quite well. Project Horizon is going to be very similar I imagine.
 
Danscott22 said:
As much as I want to read everyone’s reviews next Saturday, a part of me doesn’t as I don’t want to spoil it for myself 🙈
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Seeing as I’m riding it myself on 25th March, I think I’m going to try and avoid any overly in-depth reviews or POVs from the first week.

That could be easier said than done with how things are nowadays, but I’ll try and keep to surface level reviews rather than any that go into depth about the features of the attraction.

I’ve been trying not to spoil new dark rides for myself before I ride them for a few years now, and it seems to have worked well!
 
Matt N said:
On a side note, I think it’s quite remarkable that for a project being built in 2023, we still know pretty much nothing about the specifics of what’s inside this attraction apart from what the park has officially told us.

Alton Towers have kept this under wraps to quite an impressive degree!
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You gotta give it to towers, they know how to market by doing less and keeping things wrapped up. It's the anticipation and not knowing is what makes their marketing so great!
 
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